It is very interesting to see almost every company becoming a software company. Businesses that earlier thought of software as a tool at most, now see the endless possibilities for efficiency and decision support.

An example is UPS, who plans it's routes with a heavily modified traveling salesman optimizer. http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-ups-the-algorithm-is-the-driv...

Personally, I work on a system that tracks food items and makes sure it stays fresh on the store shelves.